Nectar Kids Review

In This Review
Performance Tests | Firmness | Support & Sleeping Positions | Design | Materials | Comparisons | FAQs

At NapLab, we put each mattress to the test.

We test 10 different factors that impact the performance, comfort, and feel of the mattress. We then take the results of those tests and compare them to every mattress we’ve tested to date.

Check out the full performance table below to see how this mattress ranks:

Factor	Nectar Kids	Average
Overall Score	8.41	8.53
Price (Queen)	$399	$1,046 (Kids only)
Cooling – Score	9.0	8.6
Sinkage – Depth	1.77″	2.23″
Sinkage – Feel	Minimal	Moderate
Motion Transfer – Score	8.0	8.2
Motion Transfer – Acceleration	9.36 m/s²	8.77 m/s²
Response Time – Score	9.0	8.8
Response Time – Mostly Recovered	0.3 sec.	0.4 sec.
Response Time – Fully Recovered	1.0 sec.	1.0 sec.
Bounce – Height	5.74″	8.79″
Bounce – Feel	Very Low	Moderate
Edge Support – Score	9.5	8.7
Edge Support – Sitting	3.00″	3.94″
Edge Support – Lying	Excellent	Excellent
Pressure Relief – Score	7.0	8.6
Comfort Layer Thickness	1.50″	4.29″
Mattress Thickness	8.00″	12.19″
Off-Gassing – Score	8.6	8.0
Off-Gassing – Smell	Strong	Strong
Off-Gassing – Days	5 days	7 days
Company – Score	10	8.8
Trial	365 nights	181 nights
Warranty	Lifetime	40% have lifetime warranties, average of other 60% of mattresses is 13 years

How is Nectar Kids Different?

The Nectar Kids is an 8.00″ kids mattress with an overall performance level that is slightly below the average performance level and a price tag that is also quite a bit lower than average.

That being said, this mattress is only available in a Twin or Full size.

Advantages

Aside from the low price, other advantages of the Nectar Kids mattress include better cooling, faster material responsiveness, better edge support, and faster off-gassing. The mattress is backed by a 365-night trial period and a lifetime warranty.

Neutral Factors

This mattress has minimal sinkage and very low levels of bounce. For kids who sleep exclusively on their sides, this could be more of a disadvantage, but when kids are younger, these levels could work just fine.

Disadvantages

Disadvantages of the Nectar Kids mattress include slightly more motion transfer than average and worse pressure relief. In our pressure relief tests, this mattress earned a score of 7.0, quite a bit lower than the 8.6 average.

While this may not be an issue for younger kids, as kids get older, they may require / prefer better pressure relief.

Another disadvantage could be the limited mattress sizes. The Nectar Kids mattress is only available in Twin or Full size and has a weight limit of 150 lbs. per side (according to Nectar’s customer support).

The Nectar Kids has excellent cooling. During our tests, I did not feel any significant level of heat retention around my body.

While this mattress lacks many of the more advanced and expensive cooling features often seen on adult mattresses (cooling covers, phase change materials, thermoreactive fibers, etc.), it still maintains good cooling performance.

• Baseline Temperature – the temperature of the mattress before anyone lies on it
• Maximum Temperature (0 minute) – the temperature of the mattress after lying on it for 15 minutes
• Ending Temperature (5 minute) – the temperature of the mattress after being lied upon and having no one on it for 5 minutes

There are two major factors that improve cooling. First, the mattress has a very thin comfort layer that’s just 1.5” thick. Comfort foams are the primary driver of heat retention in a mattress.

While less comfort material doesn’t do any favors for pressure relief, it is beneficial for cooling.

And the second big reason is the limited sinkage level. With just 1.77” of sinkage, the body just doesn’t sink down very far. Less sinkage means there is less foam wrapping up and around the body, further helping to improve breathability.

In our objective temperature tests, we measured a max surface level temperature of 90.3° F. This is 0.3° warmer than the average of 90.0° F, based on all of our tests to date.

After getting off the mattress, the temperature declined by 3.9 degrees from minutes 0 to 1, which is 0.9 degrees less cooling than the average 0 to 1 minute decline of 4.8 degrees.

When we consider the combination of objective data, my subjective experiences, and an analysis of the materials, I’m confident in my view that cooling is excellent.

The Nectar Kids has minimal sinkage. During our tests, we measured a pressure point sinkage depth of 1.77″. This is 0.45″ less sinkage than the average sinkage depth of 2.22″, based on all of our tests to date.

The level of sinkage is documented in the image below.

The mattress creates only a slight body contour. Notably, this mattress has more of a floating feel where the body lies more “on” the mattress as opposed to sinking down “in” the mattress.

This feel creates a high degree of support and a slightly firmer feel. For many kids, especially younger kids, this is perfectly fine.

But as many kids grow up, this comfort dynamic may start to quickly feel stiff and excessively firm.

The Nectar Kids has a low level of motion transfer. During our tests, we measured a total acceleration range of 9.36 m/s². This is 7% more motion transfer than the average of 8.76 m/s².

Being an all-foam design, this mattress is able to disperse motion and energy better than many mattresses.

Even so, we measured a slightly higher level of motion than average. That slight increase over the average is mostly due to the slightly firm feel and minimal sinkage.

The level of motion transfer is also documented in the video below.

While all foam designs are great at dispersing energy, the firmer feel does mean there is a more abrupt stop to the sinkage, which creates a little more motion.

Even so, this is not an especially high level of motion, and I don’t expect it to be a problem for most sleepers.

The Nectar Kids is a mixed bag for material responsiveness, with a very fast mostly recovered response time and a moderate fully recovered response time.

In our mostly recovered test, we measured a recovery speed of 0.3 seconds, which is 0.11 seconds faster than the average of 0.41 seconds, based on all of our tests to date.

In our fully recovered responsiveness test, we measured a recovery speed of 1.0 seconds, which is 0.02 seconds faster than the average of 1.02 seconds.

The level of responsiveness is documented in the video below.

While these material recovery speeds aren’t instant, they are still more than fast enough to facilitate excellent ease of movement and avoid any type of a “stuck” feeling in the mattress.

In addition, the limited comfort layer and below-average sinkage depth further help to facilitate excellent ease of movement.

The Nectar Kids has a very low level of bounce. During our tests, we measured a total bounce height of 5.74″. This is 3.06″ less bounce than the average of 8.80″, based on all of our tests to date.

All foam mattresses, especially those that contain a memory foam comfort layer, typically have less bounce and that’s exactly what we measured here.

Nectar’s design is all foam with a memory foam comfort layer. Foam simply doesn’t return as much bounce as coils. In addition, memory foam returns even less bounce compared to many poly foams and latex foams.

The level of bounce is also documented in the video below.

The lower-than-average level of bounce would ordinarily make ease of movement worse.

However, in this case, the mattress has a minimal sinkage depth and a slightly firm feel that creates a feel that doesn’t sink down far enough to create any type of ease of movement or overly enveloped feel.

The worst we could say is that the lower bounce makes the mattress less fun for kids to play on, but in terms of sleep, it should be a non-issue.

The Nectar Kids has outstanding sitting edge support and excellent lying edge support.

In our sitting edge support test, we measured a sitting sinkage compression of 3.00″. This is 0.93″ less sitting sinkage than the average of 3.93″, based on all of our tests to date.

The level of edge support while seated is documented in the images below.

While lying directly on the edge of the mattress, I felt that the support was excellent in all sleeping positions. This mattress does not utilize any type of reinforced support foam along the edge.

Even so, that would be entirely unexpected for a kids’ mattress. While the mattress lacks any type of explicit edge support (ex. reinforced edge support foam), it was still able to provide robust support for sitting and lying on the mattress edge.

The level of edge support while lying is documented in the images below.

Again, we see the combination of a slightly firm feel, minimal sinkage, and a thinner-than-average comfort layer all contributing to the excellent edge support performance.

Overall, I’m pleased with this level of edge support performance and don’t expect it to be an issue for most sleepers.

The Nectar Kids has a fair level of pressure relief. During our tests, I felt slight to moderate pressure points on my body.

The mattress is equipped with 1.5″ of comfort material, which is 2.79″ less comfort material than the average comfort layer thickness of 4.29″, based on all of our tests to date.

During our tests, we open up the cover to assess material quality. The material quality is fine, but also far from amazing.

This level of material quality and comfort layer thickness is pretty typical for a kids mattress, both being measures to help keep the price in check.

All of that said, it is the limited comfort layer that is the primary driver of the less-than-great pressure relief. There just isn’t enough comfort material here to create an ideal level of comfort, at least for adult bodies.

To be fair, this is a mattress designed for kids and many kids are likely to find this level of pressure relief satisfactory. Even so, as kids get a little bit older, especially years 8 and up, I think they are more likely to prefer adult mattresses over a kids mattress.

I can’t help but compare this to the Siena Signature 12” (see the review here). Siena is Nectar’s sister brand; this specific Signature model has a 4.0” comfort layer and notably better pressure relief, all while being around the same price.

Moving on, let’s take a look at our objective pressure mapping tests, where we measured a max PSI of 0.79. Ideally, I want to see all PSI measurements at 1.0 or better and this model cleared that threshold.

Pressure Relief (PSI)	Average	Maximum
Side Sleepers	0.13	0.79

Pressure Relief (PSI)	Average	Maximum
Back Sleepers	0.07	0.50

Pressure Relief (PSI)	Average	Maximum
Stomach Sleepers	0.09	0.70

When I consider our objective pressure mapping tests, material thickness, material quality, and my subjective experience on the mattress, I’m confident most sleepers will find the pressure relief to be fair.

The Nectar Kids had a strong smell upon the initial unboxing. The mattress smelled for 5 days. This is 2.2 days shorter than the average smell duration of 7.2 days.

Nectar mattresses come with a 365-night trial period and a lifetime warranty. Shipping and returns are both free.

Company Factor	Factor Weight	Score	Data
Returns	40%	10	$0
Trial Period	30%	10	365 nights
Warranty	20%	10	Lifetime
Shipping	10%	10	$0
Country of Origin	0%		USA

Comparing 103+ brands tested to date, the average trial period is 175 nights. This mattress also has a lifetime warranty.

The Nectar Kids mattress has a flippable design with two different firmnesses, one on each side of the mattress. Side 1 is designed for 3-7 year olds and has an extra firm feel (9 out of 10).

Side 2 is designed for older kids, 8-12 years old, and has a slightly firm feel (7 out of 10).

As kids age out of the extra firm feel of Side 1, Side 2 provides a bit of softness without compromising support.

Support on the Nectar Kids is good. During our tests, I felt well supported in all sleeping positions. The mattress is equipped with a 6.5″ support layer. This is 1.41″ thinner than the average support layer thickness of 7.91″, based on all of our tests to date.

Support Factor	Data
Comfort Layer	1.50″
Support Layer	6.50″
Firmness	Slightly Firm and Extra Firm
Body Contour	Slight
Zoned Support	No
Reinforced Edge	No

This mattress has a fairly simple design, but also one that is flippable. Side one is for ages 3-7 and has an extra firm feel. Side two is for ages 8-12 and has a slightly firm feel.

Both sides of this mattress create a high degree of support, but also aren’t great for pressure relief. Pressure relief isn’t generally an issue for younger kids.

But older kids, especially 8 years and older, are more likely to want something with a little less pushback and a more medium to medium-firm feel.

It’s certainly a good idea to talk with your child about their firmness preferences before jumping into any new mattress. For a mattress to create ideal support, it needs to support the body, while also being comfortable.

Check out the table below to see the sleeper weights and sleeping positions that would be best suited for this mattress.

Sleeper Weight	Stomach Sleeper	Side Sleeper	Back Sleeper
Under 150 lbs.	Yes	Yes	Yes
150-250 lbs.	Yes	Yes	Yes
250-300 lbs.	Yes	Yes	Yes

In our testing, Nectar’s customer support confirmed that the mattress can support up to 300 pounds, or 150 pounds per side. That said, I would recommend a max sleeper weight of 120 pounds, given the comfort layer and total mattress height.

Lastly, this mattress does not use any type of zoned support. Zoned support is typically something we only see in adult mattresses and even there, only on more expensive models, so its absence here isn’t unexpected or unreasonable.

Based on all of my tests to date, an analysis of the materials, and my subjective experiences, I’m confident that most sleepers will find support on the Nectar Kids to be good.

The Nectar Kids is an 8.00″ kids mattress with a flippable design—extra firm on one side (9 out of 10) and slightly firm on the opposite side (7 out of 10). It’s designed for growing kids as they transition through the stages of early childhood.

This mattress can support sleepers up to 150 lbs. per side, from age 3 up to age 12.

Design Factor	Data
Type	Kids
Thickness	8.00″
Cover Type	Thin
Weight	62 lbs.
Has Handles	No
Fiberglass-Free	Yes
Ships in a Box	Yes

The Nectar Kids mattress uses OEKO-TEX certified fabrics, CertiPUR-certified foams, and is fiberglass-free.

This mattress arrives compressed in a box and it looks fairly basic. There are no handles on the side (which would have made the flipping process simpler). That said, it’s a budget-friendly pick for young sleepers who likely don’t have complicated sleep needs yet.

The Nectar Kids is 8.00″ thick and contains a combination of three different foam types. From top to bottom, here is a full list of the materials used in this mattress:

Layer Type	Thickness	Layer Specs
Memory Foam	1.50″	Not Available
Support Foam	5.50″	Not Available
Poly Foam	1.00″	Not Available

The Nectar Kids mattress has a thin cover that is made of a polyester fabric, which makes the cover stain-resistant and moisture-repellent, while also being completely removable and machine-washable.

For young sleepers, who can sometimes have unpredictable accidents, this feature can be super convenient. And because this is a flipable mattress, the same cover is used on both sides of the mattress.

The comfort layer on the Slightly Firm (7) side is a 1.50″ layer of memory foam (blue foam). While I would typically like to see a thicker comfort layer, considering that this mattress is for kids, this should be adequate.

When you flip it over to the Extra Firm (9) side, the comfort layer is a 1.0″ poly foam (white foam). This side is quite a bit thinner than the average comfort layer, which certainly contributes to worse pressure relief.

But again, for very young kids who need a firmer sleeping surface, this could be perfectly suitable.

The support layer is 5.50″ thick and made of a central core of support foam. As mentioned above, because this is a flippable mattress, the support layer is in the middle, sandwiched by two comfort layers on the top and bottom of the mattress.

Product Evolution

The Nectar Kids mattress was released to their lineup in October 2024 as their firm kids mattress.

Since its release, there have been no notable changes made to the mattress.

Other Mattresses to Consider

Not sure if the Nectar Kids is the right pick for you? Check out these three other top-rated value mattresses for alternatives you may want to consider.

Frequently Asked Questions

Still have questions? Check out some of the top FAQs on the Nectar Kids mattress below and get the answers you’re looking for.